Swans 2013 Draft Strategy

[Auntie.Gerald]

There's a bit too much panic about the ruck situation for 2014. Look at it tis way: We dropped backups Seaby and White, who few rated highly, and replaced them with Naismith and Mitchell. Naismith has looked promissing and will be 22 yo next year. He was outplayed but didn't look out of place against Billy Longer and did some good things around the ground.

Pyke replaces Mummy as no. 1 ruckman. He easily outpointed Mummy in the RWO bnf voting, so he is our consensus number 1 ruckman. Tippett takes Pyke's place as forward-ruckman. He's a step up as a forward and not a bad number 2 ruckman. Barring injury, I think it is a stronger combo than Mummy and Pyke.

We still have LRt. What is lacking is knowing if Naismith or PM can step up in case of emergency.

plus the new interchange rule will make it harder for two "ruckmen only" on the field me thinks - our two are also formidable forwards !!!!

[Ruck'n'Roll]

When I hear about s being too top heavy up forward last year, I sort of agree, but suggest that the problem wasn't an excess of height, more the lack of mobility/footspeed of that height. Having DirtyKurt and the resting ruckman up forward made it look like there were four goalposts instead of two sometimes.

[Ludwig]

Darcy Hourigan is featured today on the AFL website. He's one I'd be looking at with picks 32 and 35. He was impressive in the under 18 championships. He'll be around 192 cm and 100 kgs in a couple of years, much like Grundy, but is quicker and more skillful. Has good vision and has that natural footballer look to him. Can play forward or back. I think he lacks endurance at the moment, so will probably take a couple of years to reach AFL level in that regard.

[jono2707]

With the interchange cap maybe clubs will be seriously considering just one ruckman and a pinch-hitter from 2014 onwards? Perhaps the 192-196cm players who can pinch-hit in the ruck will become more important, as opposed to having 2 x 200cm+ behemoths in a side? Maybe LRT will play more in the ruck as a result? Even Goodsey???

Maybe young guys the size of Hourigan etc will be seen as having more value if they can fill in in the ruck as and when required?

Who knows, but our lack of experienced genuine ruckmen for 2014 could see us pointing in this direction.

[Ludwig]

With the interchange cap maybe clubs will be seriously considering just one ruckman and a pinch-hitter from 2014 onwards? Perhaps the 192-196cm players who can pinch-hit in the ruck will become more important, as opposed to having 2 x 200cm+ behemoths in a side? Maybe LRT will play more in the ruck as a result? Even Goodsey???

Maybe young guys the size of Hourigan etc will be seen as having more value if they can fill in in the ruck as and when required?

Who knows, but our lack of experienced genuine ruckmen for 2014 could see us pointing in this direction.

You would have to assume this is the case or we wouldn't have let Mummy go. Until the draft is over, it's hard to say what the Swans' brain-trust are up to in this regard. Who knows, but we could find ourselves with 3 genuine ruckmen going into 2015 if some of the hype around Naismith and Mitchell comes to pass.

There was also a recent article on the AFL website on Ben Brown, another ruck/forward possibility that might be AFL ready.

[Gezball]

I believe Biggs can also be a third year rookie. We may want to wait to see who is still available at ND pick 53 before deciding on a further upgrade. It could be a pick we use to get a mature ruckman or Joel Tippett.

Ugg, if you're out there, is this correct re Biggs being allowed to be a 3rd year rookie? You seem to be oracle on such matters.

[Mug Punter]

You would have to assume this is the case or we wouldn't have let Mummy go. Until the draft is over, it's hard to say what the Swans' brain-trust are up to in this regard. Who knows, but we could find ourselves with 3 genuine ruckmen going into 2015 if some of the hype around Naismith and Mitchell comes to pass.

There was also a recent article on the AFL website on Ben Brown, another ruck/forward possibility that might be AFL ready.

Hope we draft him, surely we need two ruckmen in our top 38

[ernie koala]

With the interchange cap maybe clubs will be seriously considering just one ruckman and a pinch-hitter from 2014 onwards? Perhaps the 192-196cm players who can pinch-hit in the ruck will become more important, as opposed to having 2 x 200cm+ behemoths in a side? Maybe LRT will play more in the ruck as a result? Even Goodsey???

Maybe young guys the size of Hourigan etc will be seen as having more value if they can fill in in the ruck as and when required?

Who knows, but our lack of experienced genuine ruckmen for 2014 could see us pointing in this direction.

That's fine, as long as Pyke doesn't get injured for any length of time...That will leave us with just a pinch-hitter.

Surely we will be recruiting a mature aged ruckman as backup/ insurance.

[Mug Punter]

That's fine, as long as Pyke doesn't get injured for any length of time...That will leave us with just a pinch-hitter.

Surely we will be recruiting a mature aged ruckman as backup/ insurance.

Let's hope so...

[GordonS]

bit of talk out of today that the swans might pick up rory lobb with the second pick if still available. probably too much other talent to use pick 15 on him

[Bloody Hell]

bit of talk out of today that the swans might pick up rory lobb with the second pick if still available. probably too much other talent to use pick 15 on him

Alot of Swans fans seem to like Lobb, but looking at his vision...I don't see it.

There are no top pure ruckman noted in this draft, and considering how long they take to develop I don't see the point in getting one for the hell of getting one. The more I think about it, the more I think it's better to identify something really raw and develop them - if there's no first round talent or trade ruckman in (though most clubs are onto this...making development even more of a roll of the dice).

That said there seems to be alot of FWD/Ruck in this draft that look pretty good - Apeness, Conlon, Brown etc

The one that I like is Jed Redden (Jacks brother) - his video looks very good, but there are no wraps on him at all - He didn't play U-18's due to school commitments, and it makes me wonder if the SA clubs are trying to hide him... We saw with White it takes 5-6 years to develop these guys, I can see him being something special (and I like the way his brother goes about it.) Considering it takes that long, if we are looking to replace Tippett and Franklin in 2020, now is the time to get them in (particularly since we can offset their big wages against a few rookie contracts for those years.)

The rawest with raps seems to be Angus Milham. It'd take at least 6 years to get him there....but it'd be worth it if he came good as a pure ruckman, though I don't really like the dinosaur ruckman. I like Darcy Cameron as a pure ruckman - he seems a bit more mobile than the average big man.

Anyway - I hope the Swans don't waste good picks on mediocre talent just because they're tall.

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i actually a big-bodied midfielder is more likely for him. i was looking at some stuff earlier and saw that he is the exact same height as kennedy. obviously, he's much lighter being a younger bloke, but could definitely bulk up over the years. we've seen in the neafl that he's got some incredible strength and add that to his marking and goal-kicking ability, he could become a great big-bodied mid if he chooses the path/ or the coaches push him down that path.

I think when they drafted him it was with this intention. He played his junior football as a mid, and I think only in his final year of TAC that he played FF.

In the seniors he's competing against Franklin, Tippett and Reid for a spot in the forward line.... can't see him pushing any of them out, or filling a key forward role at another club....though he has very long arms.

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More interested to see peoples starting 22, considering the known injuries for round 1, plus a couple of incidentals that are likely to pop up in the pre season.

[lwjoyner]

Don't understand phantom drafters saying that swans need a small forward. Think we have the guys who could play that role. Does anyone know monocle the swans drafter in the bigfooty draft. He picked Impey who at 177 is small , not sure we need this. He also picked Darcey Cameron at 35 a 205cm ruckman. Brown still free. Why dont bigfooty use one of our "experts". I am sure we could find someone who know what we really need. He also picks Darcey Gardiner at 15 and J Tippert at 44.

[GordonS]

Don't understand phantom drafters saying that swans need a small forward. Think we have the guys who could play that role. Does anyone know monocle the swans drafter in the bigfooty draft. He picked Impey who at 177 is small , not sure we need this. He also picked Darcey Cameron at 35 a 205cm ruckman. Brown still free. Why dont bigfooty use one of our "experts". I am sure we could find someone who know what we really need. He also picks Darcey Gardiner at 15 and J Tippert at 44.

so 2 KPDs, a ruck and a small forward. considering this draft is regarded as a 'midfielders' draft, i think its a great risk not choosing to draft any midfielders (impey can play mid but there's plenty of other blokes). considering we had the second best defence for the year, using the first pick on a KPD is probably not what we need

[caj23]

Don't understand phantom drafters saying that swans need a small forward. Think we have the guys who could play that role. Does anyone know monocle the swans drafter in the bigfooty draft. He picked Impey who at 177 is small , not sure we need this. He also picked Darcey Cameron at 35 a 205cm ruckman. Brown still free. Why dont bigfooty use one of our "experts". I am sure we could find someone who know what we really need. He also picks Darcey Gardiner at 15 and J Tippert at 44.

Small forwards need to be able to rotate through the midfield in the Swans setup, there's no chance that we'll draft anyone who can't do that

[Auntie.Gerald]

just ask Lambie caj23